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“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” – Colossians 3:15

 Peace and gratitude to you!

Thanksgiving is a gift for which we can be grateful because it keeps giving. The circumstances that surround it neither negate nor generate it. It is a quality of our lives given by grace.

Sometimes it contrasts with the mood and demeanor of our times and sometimes it defies our challenges. It shakes it fist with laughter and joy in the face of our trials. It is the  turning point that distinguishes the old from the new.

You can choose to possess this gift.

You always have a choice.

It is a quality that is not subject to events, emotions, or public opinion. It will color your disposition more than any other quality in your life. It will have a role in determining whether other people are attracted to or repelled by you. It will affect your health, your relationships, and your success. It is an attitude that colors your personality in gray or in vivid brightness. It is gratitude.

If you recoil at the notion of being thankful, of counting your blessings, and of rejoicing in the Lord always, you do not have it yet and need to seek it.

If you are negative, grumpy, or critical, it is likely that you have a deficit in this area.

Once you possess and exercise gratitude you gain a new outlook on life whatever happens. You still experience the full range of human emotions; you weep, you get angry, and you feel lonely sometimes. However, there is a different kind of orientation. Your direction is positive, and you approach life with hope, energy, and joy.

Gratitude is a gift to be received and given.

In the deepest crisis or most present danger, the thankful heart can find a reason to pause and give thanks to God because God is the source of all good and perfect gifts—even those that rise from the ashes of tragedy. And He is the source of the attitude that makes gratitude possible.

If you desire to live with a positive and grateful heart, ask Jesus to fill your life with His love, forgiveness, grace, and presence. The change may not come overnight, but you will soon notice the difference a vibrant relationship with Him can make in the mundane and daily pattern of your life.

No one disputes this: You are living through hard times, challenging, stretching moments that try the very soul.

However:

Give thanks!

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

 

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

 

When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

 

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things– anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.

 

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

 

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

 

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

 

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.

 

And be thankful.

 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.